Last week we looked at how waste human hair is used in the beauty industry. This week we want to look at how waste human hair is used in other ways.

It has been shown that human hair is one of the best materials to clean up oil spills such as the one that took place in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Oil booms made of human hair were shown to be far more effective than those made of other material in removing oil from the contaminated waters. Companies have become involved in collecting waste human hair and using them to make oil booms to collect as much oil as possible. Hairdressers and barber saloons have participated in the efforts by donating waste human hair. This is highly beneficial because it cleans up the environment and keeps waste out of the landfill.

If you've had the unfortunate occasion of seeing hair in your food, your very first reaction is to remove it. Well, if you are a pizza lover, you may very well have a difficulty in doing this. This is because there is an ingredient called L-cysteine which comes from human hair and which is used as a dough conditioner and flavouring for some baked products such as pizza. If you are feeling squeamish about this, please note that there is also a synthetic form of L-cysteine which is a popular substitute for that derived from human hair.

One of the things you may have seen your grandmother do is to put the hair from her comb into plant pots. Scientifically, tests have been done to show that plants may benefit from this practice although it may not be enough to produce all the nutrients plants need and additional compost may be necessary.

Every good tailor knows that the lining of a suit is critical to its fit. A good lining helps to shape the suit and gives it body as well as structure. Waste human hair is used in the processing of suit linings and is an alternative to camel, horse or other types of hair.

What a remarkable product the human hair is? It is also amazing the types of ways in which we use waste human hair. The closer we look, the more evident it becomes that there is use for nearly every strand of hair and that there is no hair to waste.

Ann Marie Rodriques

PeaceWater Services

Send questions or comments to peacewaterservices@yahoo.com.